Former Pakistan cricketer-turned commentator Ramiz Raja wasn’t much impressed with the Indian spinner Varun Chakravarthy’s bowling in the recent three-match T20I series in Sri Lanka.
He said Varun looked too predictable in the T20I series and suggested the mystery spinner vary his pace and add more variations in his armory to be more effective at the highest level. However, the commentator lauded Rahul Chahar for his performance in Sri Lanka. He scalped 3 wickets on debut.
The former Pakistan captain has also lauded the Indian cricket team’s spirit for completing the T20I series against Sri Lankan despite the bio-bubble breach after the first T20I in Colombo.
Raja said in his latest YouTube video, “If you look at the bowling, Rahul Chahar was the best of the lot but Varun Chakravarthy will need to bring in more variety, he bowled at the same pace throughout. On this pitch, he could have bowled with more flight and pace at times. He was too predictable.”
After winning the first T20I by 38 runs, India faced a huge blow as Krunal Pandya tested positive for COVID-19 while 8 other cricketers were identified as his close contacts, and all they were forced to isolate, leaving the tourists with just 5 specialist batters for the remaining 2 T20Is in Sri Lanka.
Despite the unavailability of its top-performers, the Indian team showed sportsmanship and took the field with captain Shikhar Dhawan and four young batsmen and lost the last two games to lose the T20I series 1-2 to Sri Lanka.
Following the T20I series loss to Sri Lanka, Raja lauded India for continuing with the tour but was surprised to see how the young Indian batters struggled against spin most of the time during the series.
Highlighting India’s struggle in Sri Lanka, Raja said: “India always had talent and potential in batting but this time, they had inexperienced hands. Unfortunately, the situation was tough for them. Their regular players weren’t available, which also included some match-winners, due to the Covid situation.”
He continued, “When you are inexperienced, you have no reference point when you get stuck since you haven’t been in that situation before. That is why Team India struggled. The Indian batsmen did not play spin well, which is definitely a matter of worry. Generally, they bat very well against spinners. This time though they did not use their feet and credit to Sri Lankan bowlers for not allowing them to do so.”
Raja signed off by saying, “Team India had issues but the brain-thrust would be disappointed. Youngsters had a great opportunity to get a flavor of international cricket. It was a good decision by India not to abort the tour but the batters and bowlers could not perform in the last two T20Is.”
